First question received from a webinar attendee last week: "How will the uprating of benefits and increase in the benefit cap levels from April impact poverty rates?" #AskAnAnalyst
@isabe1_tay1or: The UC uplift in the pandemic appears to have helped to reduce poverty, so state support does help. But benefits are at a historic low, LHA remains frozen and increasing by inflation simply maintains the current low rates. Many families on benefits will struggle.
.@isabe1_tay1or answers: Politicians at national and local levels have policy levers they can use to address poverty but we also need to examine the building blocks of social and economic systems so they work for poorer households.
Q: "Do you have any evidence on how families just above the threshold for support through the benefits system are faring?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@isabe1_tay1or: In Oct. 2022, 7 in 10 low-income working-age households not receiving benefits were going without an essential & over half were in arrears. This was less severe than for those receiving benefits but still v.high
More here: jrf.org.uk/report/low-inc…@KatieSchmuecker
Q: "Which demographics are most at risk of falling into poverty as a result of the cost of living crisis?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@CarlaOnion answers: In our Cost of Living Tracker we found that young people, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and disabled people are all at a greater risk, you can read more here: jrf.org.uk/report/going-u…
Q: "Can you signpost to evidence on the incidence and nature of credit used by low-income families affected by the cost of living crisis?" #AskAnAnalyst
Q: "Can you explain the deep and very deep poverty measures? Should policy focus more on the very deep poverty measure than the 60% of median measure?" #AskAnAnalyst
@CarlaOnion answers: Policy needs to consider the impact on both so that people in deep poverty are not left behind.
Deep poverty= 50% of median income
Very deep poverty = 40%
You can read more about deep poverty and our policy recommendations here: jrf.org.uk/report/going-w…
Q: "What are the poverty rates for unpaid carers, and can you say more about the work JRF has done on this group?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@jrfAleks answers: our analysis finds poverty rates are much higher for informal carers (at 29% v. 20%). More detail in page 68 of the report.
Read about our work with unpaid carers in a blog on the work by @rachel_casey85, @LUSACTION and others here:
@jrfAleks@rachel_casey85@LUSACTION Q: "I receive PIP. Are poverty rates higher for disabled people because they need to pay more for costs related to their disability and care?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@CarlaOnion answers: When calculating poverty rates for disabled people we remove disability benefits intended to cover additional costs from the total household income to factor in extra costs, but even without doing that poverty rates are higher for disabled families.
@CarlaOnion Q: "Can you provide breakdowns of poverty rates for minority ethnic groups?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@isabe1_tay1or answers: In 2018/19-2020/21, poverty rates were highest for people from the Bangladeshi (51%), Pakistani (44%) and Black ethnic groups (42%). These were over twice as high as for people from white ethnic groups (19%). They also had much higher deep poverty rates.
@isabe1_tay1or Q: "Is the higher poverty rate for ethnic minority families partly explained by their typically younger-age profile, where poverty is higher among younger people?" #AskAnAnalyst
@isabe1_tay1or .@isabe1_tay1or answers: Age profiles may play a part in this, but even when looking at poverty rates for children, working-age adults and pensioners separately, we see similar differences in poverty rates between people from ethnic minority groups and from white ethnic groups.
@isabe1_tay1or Q: "Have you looked at poverty by immigration status, including those not allowed to work and / or access public funds?" #AskAnAnalyst
@isabe1_tay1or .@J_Elliott94 answers: a lack of data meant we couldn't do this for UK Poverty unfortunately.
Our Structural Racism in Housing report by @KhemRogaly includes analysis of the disproportionate challenges and pressures faced by those likely exposed to NRPF
@isabe1_tay1or@J_Elliott94@KhemRogaly .@jrfAleks answers: This is something we've explored in depth with @LittleVillageHQ - we've linked to their report. Unfortunately due to data limitations we weren't able to break this down by immigration status.
@isabe1_tay1or@J_Elliott94@KhemRogaly@jrfAleks@LittleVillageHQ .@CarlaOnion answers: Poverty is based on the household (HH) income, so if 2 children are in a HH in poverty then those children are in poverty. HHs of different sizes require different incomes. Policy should target parents and ways to increase their income and lower their costs.
@hoolacambs .@J_Elliott94 answers: part of the answer lies in tenure mix and lower housing costs, although mitigations to welfare reforms also protect incomes. Data is from 2020/21 so won't show impact of Scottish Child Payment. More detail from page 30 of the report.
Q: "Have you any evidence on the social impact that poverty has, i.e leading to increased social isolation?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@AnalysisAndrew answers: Yes, among other impacts we cite evidence that those on the lowest incomes are more likely to cite symptoms of anxiety, including that their social life is suffering. See page 99 of the report, and read more in my thread:
@LostInSW19 .@J_Elliott94 answers: In the report we flag the disproportionate pressure faced be shared owners who face substantial hikes in rents, services charges AND interest rates.
Should be in part mitigated by commitment of many HAs to limit rent increases, but many SOs may struggle.
Q: "How recent are poverty estimates by tenure? Private rents are increasing fast, and social rents will increase in April." #AskAnAnalyst
.@J_Elliott94 answers: The figures are for 2020/21.
We haven't forecasted impacts on poverty rates, but conclude these trends mean housing will become an increasingly important driver of poverty.
Q: "Are you going to do more work on lived experiences of poverty?" #AskAnAnalyst
@jrfAleks answers: We continue to work with people with lived experiences of poverty, particularly our Grassroots Poverty Action Group which you can read more about here: jrf.org.uk/blog/lived-exp…
Q: "What are the key systemic factors contributing to poverty?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@StatsPeter answers: The key drivers of poverty are the labour market (both employment rates and earnings levels), social security rates, housing costs and inflation.
@StatsPeter How these are changing are illustrated in the table on page 16 and 17 of the reported and summarised here
@basicincome_uk JRF believe that a UBI would likely reduce poverty but would also be expensive and challenging to introduce. Many of its aims are achievable through changes to the current social security system. You can read more here: jrf.org.uk/report/univers…
Q: "To what extent do the 2020-21 official government figures reflect the current state of poverty in the UK, given lower average incomes and temporary financial support during pandemic?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@StatsPeter answers: We anticipate living standards have worsened since 2020/21, given the reasons you cite - explained further in a medium blog by my colleague Isabel. See pages 16-17 of the report for more info.
Q: "How have public opinions about poverty changed during the pandemic?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@isabe1_tay1or answers: In annex 4 of the report (p. 124) we cite the British Social Attitudes Survey. This shows people have got more supportive of government helping those in need over the last few years but we can't yet say if there's any long-term change due to the pandemic.
Q: "To what extent does the measure of poverty consider the levels of savings and wealth (i.e. in a property or pension pot) a family may have?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@isabe1_tay1or answers: This report uses a poverty measure based on income that does not take into account household wealth. This is in line with national statistics but other measures (such as from the Social Metric Commission) have been developed to take assets into account.
Q: "When reporting the extent to which debt is a heavy burden, does this including mortgage debt or unsecured debt?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@isabe1_tay1or answers: It covers all debt other than mortgage/student loan debt. Respondents are asked if they feel this is no burden, somewhat of a burden or a heavy burden. We look at households where anyone says it's a heavy burden. More details are on page 81 of the report.
Q: "Has there been comparison research on Scotland vs rest of UK given Scotland have the Scottish child payment and other benefits to help in particular low income families?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@CarlaOnion answers: The 2020/21 data for Scotland is a smaller sample than normal due to the impact of Covid-19 on data collection, so it's hard to draw robust conclusions. The SCP was also not fully rolled out at this time. For more info on Scotland: jrf.org.uk/our-work/scotl…
Q: "How can we influence negative language that is used in national and local press to describe the poor, to language that is more positive and informative?" #AskAnAnalyst
.@CarlaOnion answers: This is something we have spent a lot of time working on in our Talking About Poverty work. This was done with @FrameWorksUK . You can read our media guide here: jrf.org.uk/report/reporti…
Q: "How will the increase in the national living wage impact poverty in the UK?"
.@AnalysisAndrew answers: in the report we flag that OBR forecast wages not keeping up with inflation; this could be mitigated by increases in National Living Wage - but these aren't perfectly targeted at the poorest households where someone is working (see page 16).
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🗣️ Private landlords are capitalising on the housing crisis leaving taxpayers and local councils to foot the bill for poor quality properties.
📒 Our latest report sets out how socialisation can – in targeted ways – play an important role in solving the housing crisis 🔽
(1/10)
🏘️ Socialisation is a process where private homes are bought up by councils, housing associations and community groups to use as affordable social homes.
(2/10)
📈With the demand for temporary accommodation growing, there’s been a dramatic rise in private companies renting poor quality homes to local authorities per night at a premium.
Over 10% of local authorities spend over £1 in every £20 on temporary accommodation.
In the next few days, films inspired by A Christmas Carol will be hard to avoid.
Yet looking back on 2023, it’s the opening line of Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities (‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’), that feels more relevant. 🧵🔽 (1/20)
📊Here, we share some of the emotional highs and lows of the past twelve months.
A year where JRF embarked on an ambitious new long-term strategy to address the dysfunctions of the present while supporting those nurturing more hopeful futures.
📈 As the cost-of-living crisis entered its second year, we saw more low-income households forced into impossible choices about which essentials to live without because of rising prices and costlier debt.
🧵The social security system should support us all when we face challenging times, but right now it’s not covering the essentials and pushing some people into even deeper hardship.
What’s gone wrong and what can be done about it? #OurEssentials
Firstly, #UniversalCredit isn’t set according to any objective assessment of the price of essentials such as food and utilities. From April it will only be £85 a week for a single adult.
Often people receive even less than that, as they face deductions from their support which are taken at unaffordable rates, for example to pay off debts to the Government.
We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but right now 90% of households receiving #UniversalCredit are going without essentials like food, utilities and vital household goods.
We can’t always deal with what life throws at us on our own, so we need to have a system that supports us all to afford the essentials while we recover from setbacks.
From April, Universal Credit will be set at £85 a week for a single adult, but there’s a significant gap between this and living costs. Our research shows that in order to cover the essentials, it must be increased to at least £120 a week. jrf.org.uk/report/guarant…
This is a #MiniBudget that has wilfully ignored families struggling through a cost of living emergency and instead targeted its action at the richest.
It leaves those on the lowest incomes out in the cold with no extra help to get them through the winter. 🧵
Families on low incomes can’t wait for the promised benefits of economic growth to trickle down into their pockets.
The energy price cap fixes bills at a level already unaffordable for many and was never going to be enough to solve the problem for those on the lowest incomes.
The Government should have combined its decision to put money into the pockets of high earners with a decision to increase benefits early.
Those on the lowest incomes have already run out of options – forced to cut back on food and energy, go into debt and into arrears.